There will likely be nothing you ever do inside of a courtroom more important and life-altering than discussing the custody arrangements of your children.
It is vital during these proceedings that you understand first the process of what’s happening in the moment and just as importantly, the result of the outcome.
Don’t worry.
It’s my job to ensure that you’re armed with the right information going into the proceeding, aware of what’s happening as it happens, and clear on the ramifications of the decisions rendered.
As part of doing that job to the best of my abilities, I’m including here a list of terms and definitions that you’ll perhaps encounter in your legal efforts to spend time with your kids.
Please understand that this list of terms is far from exhaustive. It contains only a sampling of legal terminology that you’ll need to understand to be equipped to maximize your time with your kids after a divorce.
If you have been threatened with divorce, or if you would simply like to review your current parenting plan and pursue some changes, please contact me today. I welcome the opportunity to help you raise your children the way they certainly deserve to be.
Advocate
Someone who helps and supports another person. An advocate will “take sides” and promote his or her client’s view or interests.
Affidavit of Paternity
A form on which the mother, the father if not married to the mother, and mother’s husband if she is married, can each state who is the child’s biological father.
Alimony
Money paid by a divorced husband or wife to the ex-spouse for personal support.
Child Support
The financial obligation that both parents have to their child(ren).
Custody Investigator
A court appointed expert who is educated, experienced and trained in child development and the effects of divorce or separation on children. The custody investigator assesses a family and recommends to the judge a parenting plan that is in the best interests of the children.
Custody and Visitation Plan or Parenting Plan
The plan describing how the parents will be involved in their child(ren)’s life, recognizing that children of different ages have different needs and that the plan will also change if one or both of the parents move. A parenting plan usually describes the child(ren)’s schedule and describes which parent will make decisions about various things in the child(ren)’s life. After reviewing the parenting plan, the court will be able to determine the legal custody and physical custody arrangements for the child(ren).
Decree and Judgment
The final decision of the court in a family law case. If your case includes an order for money to paid by one side to the other as part of the property division, be sure that your final decree is also says judgment so that you can use collection procedures to get the money if the person does not comply with the order.
Divided Custody
One parent has primary physical custody of one or more children of the relationship and the other parent has primary custody of one or more other children of the relationship, and the parents do not have shared physical custody of any of their children.
Joint Legal Custody
Both parents share the responsibility for making the major life decisions affecting the child’s welfare, such as where the child(ren) go(es) to the doctor, goes to school or how money matters are handled. The alternative to shared legal custody is sole legal custody.
Noncustodial parent
The parent who doesn’t have custody of the child(ren) and who is usually ordered to pay child support to the other parent who has custody of the child(ren).
Obligee
The person who is receiving child support.
Obligor
The person who is paying child support.
Parenting Plan or Custody and Visitation Plan
The plan describing how the parents will be involved in their child(ren)’s life, recognizing that children of different ages have different needs and that the plan will also change if one or both of the parents move. A parenting plan usually describes the child(ren)’s schedule and describes which parent will make decisions about various things in the child(ren)’s life. As a result of the parenting plan, the court will be able to determine the legal custody and physical custody arrangements for the child(ren).
Physical Custody
The right of a parent to have the child(en)actually live in their home. There are two types of physical custody arrangements: primary physical custody and shared physical custody.
Primary Physical Custody
The technical term for when the child(ren) live with one parent more than 70% of the year, which comes out to 256 or more overnights and the other parent less than 30% of the year, which is fewer than 110 overnights. If the child(ren) live with each parent more than 110 overnights, the technical term is shared custody.
Shared Physical Custody
The technical term for when the child(ren) live(s) with each parent at least 30% of the year. In other words, if the child(ren) live(s) with each parent for at least 110 overnights, the technical term is shared custody.
Sole Legal Custody
One parent is given the legal authority to make the major life decisions affecting the child’s welfare, such as where the child(ren) goes to the doctor, goes to school or how money matters are handled. If the parents do not agree on a decision about the child(ren), the parent with sole legal custody has the right to make the final decision.
Visitation
The right of a parent and child to contact and visit one another when the child is residing or visiting with the other parent. The law presumes that it is in the best interests of the child(ren) to have frequent and continuing contact with both parents so that both parents can maintain a good relationship with the child(ren). The schedule for visitation will be set out in the parenting or custody and visitation plan.